FACT CHECK: NBI chief Matibag not traveling to Colombia to ‘investigate’ quake damage

The false claim surfaced after the NBI conducted a raid on a Davao City steel corporation; the fake quote card circulating online is an altered version of a news graphic

AT A GLANCE

• NBI Director Melvin Matibag is not heading to Colombia to investigate earthquake-related building collapses, as claimed in a viral Facebook post.
• The post is based on an altered quote regarding an investigation into a Davao City steel corporation, which was raided for allegedly distributing substandard steel.
• The NBI confirmed that while they found DMS-marked steel in collapsed structures, this does not establish a direct cause for the collapses, and further engineering assessments are needed.

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Claim: National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag is heading to Colombia to investigate the buildings destroyed by a powerful earthquake, which are believed to have been constructed with steel from a Davao City corporation.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: A Facebook user named Nick Vlogs posted a supposed TV Patrol quote card dated August 18, bearing the caption, “NBI Director Melvin Matibag, punta (sic) ng Colombia para mag-imbestiga sa gumuhong gusali dahil ang bakal na ginamit, galing sa Davao.”

(NBI Director Melvin Matibag is heading to Colombia to investigate collapsed buildings, as the steel used in the construction came from Davao.)

The post has 3,900 reactions, 378 comments, and 30 shares as of writing.

Matibag allegedly said, “Pupunta kami sa Colombia at iimbestigahan namin ang mga gusaling gumuho ng dahil sa 7.1 magnitude na lindol, sa pagkakaalam ng aming grupo ay galing sa Davao City ang mga bakal na ginamit nila!”

(We are going to Colombia to investigate the buildings that collapsed due to the 7.1 magnitude earthquake; to our knowledge, the steel used in the construction came from Davao City!)

There is no indication of whether the post is satire or AI-generated.

The quote card circulated following a powerful quake that struck western Colombia on August 10, and the NBI’s raid on a Davao City steel corporation on August 14. It appears to imply the NBI’s alleged bias against the Dutertes, as Davao is a known bailiwick of the Duterte family and Matibag had testified in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial. Comments by social media users on the post also criticized the NBI chief for supposedly targeting the Dutertes.

The facts: The quote card is an altered version of TV Patrol’s post quoting Matibag on August 14 following the bureau’s raid on Davao Mighty Steel (DMS) Corporation due to the presence of radioactive materials.

The bureau initiated an investigation following tips that the steel company was allegedly manufacturing and distributing substandard reinforcing steel bars.

During an ambush interview with reporters, Matibag joked that they found metal instead of “bato” (rock) in Davao, apparently in reference to Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa — who’s been evading a warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

The NBI chief had clarified that the bureau was in Davao to investigate the steel firm, not to arrest the fugitive senator. The original post cites Matibag as saying, “Nandito kami sa Davao; ang nahuli namin hindi bato, [kundi] bakal.” 

(We are here in Davao; what we caught wasn’t a rock, but metal.)

The NBI director recently confirmed that authorities are still searching for Dela Rosa after multiple false reports claimed the senator had already been apprehended.

Under investigation: The NBI, along with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), served search warrants against DMS Corporation and rescued 174 Filipino workers from the area.

Technical examinations detected numerous radioactive isotopes from the firm’s steel products across different stages of their operations.

According to the PAOCC, NBI investigators found that DMS-marked reinforcing steel bars were in the rubble of structures destroyed by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Mindanao in June — including schools, government buildings, and houses in Sarangani, Davao del Sur, and Davao Occidental.

The PAOCC, however, stressed that this does not prove that the steel caused the structures’ collapse. 

“Determining the cause of the structural failures remains subject to appropriate engineering assessment,” it said.

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• FACT CHECK: Kara David quote card on Marcoleta bribery claims is fake
• FACT CHECK: Quote card of Hontiveros saying she will file ICC case vs Israel, Trump is fake 

– Eirene Manatlao/Rappler 

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